“No. There’s got to be another way. I’m not going to let you throw your life away – all these lives – like this.”

As they watch the tribal army march onwards, straight into the path of the smoking volcano, Angel is desperately trying to reason with Illyria. The Goddess stands defiantly across from him, anger in her eyes.

“You could not stop me.“

“I can try. Get you to see rea–”

Their quarrel is interrupted by the ground shaking beneath them. They both struggle to hold themselves upright and then the rumblings get worse. Smoke comes spewing into the sky, the volcano finally erupting, lava spilling from its peak.

“I cannot delay. There is no more time to spare.“

Angel has a suggestion. “That’s not true. You time travel. Take us back a little bit so we have more. Or move us forward. All of this already happened. Let history follow its own course.”

She turns to him, still angry, but reasonable. “I can’t just carry us over one course again and yet again. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Do you not see? Weaken just one and I risk severing the whole.“

Angel pleads with her again. She reminds her that she is a Goddess and doesn’t have to accept anything if she doesn’t want to. She should try again.

A few minutes later, standing in front of the tribe and their leader, a reluctant Illyria, discomfort on her face, addresses the group.

“I see you serve me well. But your actions are misguided. By assembling here you only draw my rival to you and do me no honour.“

The leader of the demons asks who she is.

“I am your God, Illyria. Do you not recognise me? I wear many guises.” Illyria looks irritated.

Some of the demons start talking amongst themselves, arguing over the truth. They all speak over each other until the leader shouts, clearly nervous about his command being overruled.

“Don’t be fooled! It lies!”

“No…” A voice comes from the undergrowth. It’s quiet, barely more than a whisper. The leaves part. “She speaks the truth.”

Angel is stunned. It’s Swal, and he’s still alive!

Swal seems to be healing, and seeing Angel his eyes light up. He turns to his tribe, stronger with every step. “Illyria’s ways are mysterious to us. This is as it should be. But I have seen proof that this incarnation is also Illyria. I have tracked this form and seen what it is capable of. It turns in an instant from a frail human into what you see before you. But both hide great Illyria’s power. We must do as she says or risk inviting her wrath!”

As he speaks, Illyria lifts him up in the air with a swirl of blue energy from her hands. The demons look amazed and, for most of them, this is proof of her identity. They cheer and raise their weapons, rejoicing in their Goddess among them.

Angel looks at her, surprised. He congratulates her on getting through to them when he couldn’t, but she tells him that getting through to her younger self will not be as easy.

Screams from ahead get their attention. Illyria’s demon rival is howling towards them, striking down any of the creatures in its path. It eats its way through those it doesn’t crush.

Illyria yells at her followers to flee. They obey and begin running in any direction. Illyria leaps into the air and lands on her feet in front of the giant rival.

“You don’t belong here. Go back to your own land,” she commands the rest of the tribe.

Angel turns to their leader. “You heard her. Get out of here! Hide yourselves! Disguise your scent!”

“But Illyria needs us! She struggles against the interloper on her own!”

“Yes. She does,” Angel tells him. Then he growls and his face changes. “She does it so you don’t have to.”

He turns towards the rival and barks at the demon without looking at him. “Now get out of here before I kill you myself!”

The demon leader doesn’t stay to argue. The rival is howling and screeching, with Illyria, although smaller, raining blow after blow upon its body. She even manages to pick up the creature and throw it onto its side.

It tries to grab a fleeing demon, but Angel pulls a tendril away from the screaming creature. He grabs onto the tendril, but he’s not strong enough to hold it steady and ends up flailing in the air, holding on to it for dear life.

“Your table manners are terrible,” he jokes, but the demon pays him no attention. It just swats him aside.

He lands near Illyria. The creature howls at her with an inhuman sound. It stares at her for a moment and then growls some more. The large creature then turns, growls in the opposite direction and then starts to move.

“I think he’s leaving.”

“I will believe it when I see it. We must remain vigilant.“

“Believe it now?” Angel and Illyria take off, following the creature.

“Perhaps. But what if my people do not heed my words? Action taken in haste may be reconsidered in leisure.“

“Maybe we should make sure your younger self understands and makes certain they stay smart.”

The creature reaches the stream and, clearly in pain and scared, dives under the water, its noises fading as it sinks lower into the depths.

Illyria watches as the demon rival finally sinks below the surface. “I must admit that I did not expect to win through avoidance, Angel. If only I had seen the truth of how to handle this when it first occurred.“

“To be fair, you were a lot younger then.” Angel’s voice is calm. Quiet. “Less mature. And it can be harder to back down from a fight than to dive in.”

“It is not only that,” Illyria says, turning to face him.

He smiles. He admits he wasn’t sure they could pull it off. He usually hits things first, so a peaceful ending is surprising.

Illyria turns at a sound behind her.

“It seems our relief was premature.“

“It’s time to tell your past self what actually happened here… and be sure to add the part where she should refrain from drowning us in lava.”

The noise comes from the Old One Illyria, yelling, reaching the volcano that she will use to cleanse the Earth. They run as fast as they can towards the giant creature. Angel tells her to wait for a moment. He asks Illyria what she’s planning.

“I will speak to her. Make it so that she… that I, see reason.“

“And if she won’t?”

“We will deal with that eventuality when we come to it.“

“Just promise you won’t kill her.”

Illyria is ahead of him, speeding up. “The Merciless one does not make promises, for who could ever hold me accountable?“

When she turns into another clearing at the feet of the volcano, Illyria stops and stares up at her past self. Blue energy swirls around the giant, coruscating with light.

Illyria looks worried. “We turned back my rival for nothing. Angel, I remember this. The concentration, the effort that went into making that mountain explode…” She doesn’t finish her sentence. She walks straight up to her shaking, glowing younger self and screams as loud as she can.

“Stop!“

A tendril reaches out for her, but she punches it away.

“I am not your enemy!“

Angel races towards her, determined that the two cannot fight. “No! Both of you, listen to me!”

He yells again and the volcano blows. Ash and rock and red-hot lava burst forth from the planet’s core, shrieking into the sky.

Angel turns to Illyria and her past self, both of which are now paying attention.

“This doesn’t have to happen. You started this, you can end it. Use your words, not your fists, remember? Tell yourself that you will never get over the regret of this moment, that it doesn’t have to be this way!”

The Old One looks puzzled at the small pale creature before it.

“EXPLAIN YOURSELF, TINY BLOODSUCKER.“

It’s voice can only be described as being louder than any sound Angel can remember hearing. He turns to the ancient demon.

“She needs to have a heart-to-heart with you, but you’d better make it quick. This much falling ash can’t be good.” He turns to Illyria, who has moved towards her younger self, a tendril resting on her shoulder. She says nothing, but Angel knows that somehow, someway, the two Illyrias are talking. Then ‘his’ Illyria turns back to him.

“She understands now. She’s going to fix this.“

Angel nods and asks what they said to each other.

“That I would rather not end up like you, full of regret, interrupted only by intermittent bouts of self-loathing.“

“You couldn’t’ have poss… Wait. Was that a joke?”

She turns to him, that beautiful smirk on her face, the blue from her eyes making her seem to shine, Angel thinks.

“You think that two Goddesses, or even one, would spend their time discussing you? Yes, Angel it was a joke.“

Then the volcano, which the past Illyria had been working, erupts again. Illyria shouts that her younger self is simply not strong enough.

“Maybe you aren’t in this time,” Angel tells her, looking in her eyes with confidence. “But you’ve learned a lot since then! Go on… Help yourself!”

A tendril reaches out. The Illyria in Fred’s shape lets it wrap around her and then the same blue glow envelops her form.

A huge rock, burning like a comet, comes flying from the volcano’s summit.

It lands with an almighty explosion that makes the night appear like daytime.

Angel can’t see what happens, but he knows both Illyrias were hit.

He looks up. There’s silence in the air. The lava flow has stopped. There is a blue glow around the top of the volcano, a seal of light, keeping it plugged.

Angel races towards the two Old Ones with relief on his face, but it changes when he reaches his Illyria and finds her unresponsive. The past Illyria looks at him and raises its voice.

“SHE PUT TOO MUCH OF HERSELF INTO STOPPING THE TORRENT. I COULD FEEL IT. DOING SO WAS UNWISE.“

Illyria’s form flickers in Angel’s arms and then, within seconds, the blue is gone and Fred remains. “Angel? I feel awful…”

He helps her to her feet, ensuring she’s steady. “What happened? I feel like I was in a fight. Was I in a fight? Did we… Oh!”

She looks up straight into Illyria the Old One’s demon face.

Her voice shakes slightly and suddenly Fred is extremely glad to be so close to Angel. “Um… we cool here? I mean, I’m a little hazy, and the last thing I remember, we weren’t exactly all friends.”

Illyria studies her and then speaks. “SO THIS IS THE SHAPE OF MY FUTURE CAGE. SUCH A TINY THING, BUT OBVIOUSLY POSSESSING SOME HIDDEN MERIT.“

Fred smiles. “Thanks. I think?”

“HARD TO BELIEVE IT COMMANDS MUCH IN THE WAY OF WORSHIP THOUGH. DIFFICULT TO ENVISION BEING SURROUNDED BY ECSTATIC THRONGS. HOW DO YOU MANAGE, LITTLE ONE?“

Fred’s nerves disappear, the demon talking with much more civility than either Angel or Fred expected. “We don’t really do the whole ‘Bow down and believe in miracles’ thing much anymore. But don’t worry, the future has other charms. I think you’ll like it okay. You are still in here though, right? I mean, future you. I feel so odd. But you would know if you’d died or something, wouldn’t you?”

The creature answers, this time slightly louder. “JUST AS I UNDERSTAND THAT IT IS THIS CREATURE THAT I MUST THANK.” It turns to Angel.

“YOU STOPPED ME FROM MAKING A TERRIBLE MISTAKE, ANGEL. I HOPE I CAN SOMEDAY REPAY THE FAVOUR.“

Angel smiles. “Getting us to the proper time period would be a good start. Maybe you could draw out our Illyria?”

“THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE,” the Old One states. “SHE SLEEPS DEEPLY AND WILL NOT AWAKEN UNTIL SHE IS FAR FROM HERE. I WILL THROW YOU FORWARD, SO THAT THIS VESSEL, MY FUTURE HOME, MAY LIVE. IT HAS THE WRONG WEAKNESSES TO SURVIVE LONG IN THIS TIME, BUT I SUSPECT IT IS EXACTLY SUITED TO ITS OWN. BUT YOU MUST ILLUMINATE THE PATH, ANGEL.”

Fred looks down at her hands, worry in her voice. “But wait a minute… I can’t feel her at all.” She looks at the swirling blue portal appearing around them. “What if she doesn’t wake up? Will we just be lost in time? What do we do then?”

Angel yells back at the ancient demon. “Wait. How do I ‘illuminate’ the path? What am I supposed to do?”

The creature begins to move away now, its conversation finished.

“FAREWELL ANGEL. FAREWELL CAGE.“

And then, just like that, they’re gone.